Fear of Infection or Justification of Social Exclusion? The Symbolic Exploitation of the Ebola Epidemic
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Authors
Public discourse in Western countries on the 2014 Ebola epidemic provided a unique natural opportunity to study the relationship between a disease's sociocultural representation and health policy support. Our main prediction stated that among Western citizens, support for restrictive health policies (e.g., mandatory quarantining) would be determined more through preexisting prejudice towards African immigrants than fears of Ebola infection. A questionnaire study with time-lagged measurement of predictor and criterion variables employing a German sample (N = 218) that was heterogeneous in terms of gender, age, profession, political orientation, and income level provided clear support for this assumption. Although variables related to fear-of-infection were significant predictors, prejudice-related variables explained several times more variance in participants’ support for restrictive policies. Moreover, the degree to which participants adopted prevalent beliefs regarding the sociocultural origins of Ebola (e.g., eating bushmeat) further intensified the impact of prejudice-related variables.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Political Psychology |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Pages (from-to) | 499-513 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| ISSN | 0162-895X |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 06.2017 |
| Externally published | Yes |
- SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
- SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
Sustainable Development Goals
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- Philosophy
- Clinical Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Sociology and Political Science
- Political Science and International Relations
ASJC Scopus Subject Areas
- Ebola, health policies support, social representation, symbolic prejudice
- Social Work and Social Pedagogics